I love to travel, and one of the reasons I love to travel is to see the unique cities, their differences from my own town. I love to see their charm, their local stores; their buildings and architecture. But one alarming thing I’ve noticed through the years is how so many cities are starting to look exactly the same. The same 20-30 big box stores are everywhere I turn. Sometimes I can forget what city I’m in, because minus a few tree types, some mountains or the weather, a lot of cities feel the same because all the small shops, the ones that hold all the charm of the city in my opinion, are getting squeezed out.
As much as I joke about being able to buy practically anything off of Amazon, I still love to frequent locally owned businesses. It’s so nice to be able to find the country stores, the mom and pop hardware stores, the independent eateries. My bakery quest this year alone has led me to some of the most incredible little restaurants where the owners come mingle with their customers, and their customers are fiercely loyal to them. I’d never see that at a chain restaurant.
But from everything I’ve been told, seen and read, keeping those small businesses open is a struggle. They just can’t seem to compete with the big box stores, and slowly customers, who are trying so hard to stretch a paycheck, shop where the prices are cheapest. And that is rarely at the mom and pop shops.
So what’s the happy medium? How do you support local while being frugal? Do you welcome the big box stores because it helps you save when money is tight or do you not want them invading your city? Do you frequent any locally owned stores? What are your favorites? How do we grow cities while maintaining the charm? Can the big box stores and the mom and pops coexist in harmony?
And today, this is what Mavis wants to know from you! Weigh in below!
I’m off to shop local…
~Mavis
cat says
Not gonna lie, but if I could afford too, it would be small scale shops all the way. Groceries, clothing, household I will look for the deal possible wherever it is large/small/hand me down/secondhand store. When it comes to my pets, I usually prefer local places because they have pets and bring in what they would feel comfortable giving their animals and they know it works. What I really miss the most in my city is restaurants and bakeries, I don’t get out much but when I do, I want a real place not a chain store.
Patty P says
We have a lot of Amish stores around (we’re in Upstate NY). I ONLY buy my seeds and garden plants from an Amish store about two miles down the road from me. Their plants are all organic AND much healthier than anything you would buy at a big chain store. I also buy a lot of my bulk foods from a local Mennonite store. I do go to the regular big chain grocery store for somethings, because some things just can’t be found at our little local stores, but I tend to lean toward local. Our closest big box stores are half an hour away in any direction, so it’s often easier and quicker to just go to a store two or three minutes down the road, even if that means paying a little bit more. I’m not spending the money on gas to get to the cheaper product!
Marcia says
Very true, and I struggle with this. I figure it’s not either/or though.
Example:
Lately, I’ve picked up running again. You know, I wear through 2 pairs of shoes a year, and they are expensive. As in $160 a pair expensive. So, the first pair, I buy at our local, awesome, running store.
The second pair, I go online and buy the same pair, by then they are last year’s model, for $40 less.
Food: Yes, I shop at 99cent store (which actually sells broccoli grown in my county, thankyouverymuch) and Sprouts and Costco – but I also get a local CSA produce box delivered 1x a week. I can buy the fruits and veg for half the cost of the box at these other big box stores, but instead I just do both.
Sometimes you just need the local expertise, too. I needed a new water bottle for running. I’m running 9+ miles now. I have a couple of old fanny packs with spots for water bottles, but got rid of the bottles years ago (when I stopped running, ha!) So…I went on a week-long “water bottle death march”. Kmart. CVS. Big 5 sporting goods. Grocery store. Whole Foods. Seriously, not a SINGLE water bottle that would fit in the darned fanny pack. They were all either these massive 40-70 ounce bottles, or those weird cutesy-things with plastic straws.
After at least 5 stops, I finally just went back to the darned running store. “How can I help you?” “I’m on the water bottle death march.” 30 seconds later, I had the water bottle – perfect for running distance (no fanny pack needed).
Not gonna tell you what it cost though, ouch!!
Michele B. says
In my town, local mom and pop stores/restaurants etc. are leaving at an astronomical rate. The village has very harsh regulations and taxes are SUPER high. I’ve witnessed locals with great ideas to “vamp” up our downtown area with coffee shops and bakeries but none have been able to come to fruition. BIG business however gets tax rebates/incentives to open in the town. This drives me bonkers! I am desperately trying to limit my spending so what I do spend can be as local as possible.
Nicole says
There is not much left of small businesses were we live between the collage and the big box stores taking over. The collage is the worst. It’s buying up everything it can, even to running out some of the big stores. We do have a great local plant nursery that I go to. I was able to get 30 veggie plants for $12.50 and at the local Walmart it was going to cost me over $100. $2.50 for 6 plants vs $3.95 for one plant of the same size. People in our town don’t seem to want to support local rather. Drives me crazy to hear someone say “why would I buy from u when I can go to Walmart and get it cheap.” Yes I’m a small businesses owner.
Jenny Young says
Nicole what is collage?
Nicole says
East Carolina University.
Carolina says
Nicole, can’t resist telling you that East Carolina is a college, not a collage. A collage is something else entirely.
Christina says
It’s a very hard balance. We do not eat out often but when we do we go local. We grow lots of things in our backyard and that saves money to visit little local coffee or tea shops. I only buy clothes second hand or very discounted. With some of the savings I am buying yarn from a local couple starting a llama farm. She spins and dyes all the yarns herself. Basically as we become more self sustaining we look for local sources of things. Quality is much better than quantity in most cases.
Cheri says
I do love to travel. A few times a year I take a trip with the family member or my partner. We enjoy take these long meandering trips on back roads to see what I call small-town Americana. We go out of our way to locate grocery stores or markets that are local one of a kind to pick up our on the road eats. The meals we eat out we try to keep with local individual or family run cafés and coffee shops. Since we do not make reservations in advance rather opting to stop when we feel like stopping it’s usually a chain location. I’ll souvenirs, gift items, or purchases of any kind are made from small local ran businesses, farmers market’s and such! We consider all of this to be part of the experience we are looking for.
Terri says
Seen on the back window of a car:
Support your local anything!
Jennifer Meyer says
I love this and need to find one!
S says
If you don’t support the local stores you will support the large “discount” ones with tax breaks, reparing the damage they cause to the environment, gov support to the overed/work underpaid works, etc.
Laura Dietrick says
I struggle with this also. I would rather shop local thats for sure. I live in a city of over 100,000 people. We have 1 big box craft store and one small locally owned yarn store. I love our local yarn store but I can not always afford a $25 and up skein of yarn.When I go to the big box store I can never find what I need and if they do have what I need its not high quality or even medium quality. Then I go online and order from Amazon. Its here in two days. We have one plus size clothing store. The rest all closed down during the recession. I refuse to shop at Target, Walmart, name a big box store….We have a Menards and a Lowe’s. No other hardware stores. Our local pet store closed last year. If I cant shop locally I guess I just stop shopping for anything I dont desperately need. What are we supposed to do? Seriously? I would love options.
Paula says
I try to balance my spending. Yes, I order from Amazon and Target. But, I buy my milk from a local dairy, my cheese from a local cheesemaker, eggs at our small farmer;s market, our bread from a local bakery, and in season veggies from various vendors at our farmer’s marke, our coffee from a local roaster and our jam from a local farm. In addition, I support local charities in our area. We can all do our part to make our neck of the woods a little better.
I am excited to explore more farms in my area this summer. I just purchased tickets for a farm tour here in western North Carolina. You get a map of about 20 farms within about 45 minutes of my home. Over two days you drive to and learn about each farm. The farms have a tour and sell their product. The farm tour is set up by the local farm association.
Carrie says
I live in NC too! I’ll have to look into the farm tour.
Deborah says
I do support our local businesses. We shop almost exclusively in our home town. We don’t have a clothing store so we do have to go out of town to buy clothes.
Constance says
I am a new business in Fremont Michigan
. A Leap of Faith Resale Shop. All the resale shops encourage customers to visit all of the resale shops in town. I also recommend stopping in one of our restaurants for lunch. I usually suggest a couple good options. I certainly shop local as much as possible.
Jennifer Meyer says
I wish I could say I shop all, or even mostly, local small businesses, but with trying to save money it is hard. And the small businesses are being pushed out to the point where I’ve posted on facebook asking local people to tell me their favorite small businesses because I just don’t even know where any are. 🙁 Ive found a nice small business consignment store that I plan to let my nieces and nephews run wild in (figuratively not literally) for their birthdays and Christmas rather than buying from a big box store or amazon. It’ll be super fun for the kids and support locally while spending the same amount I would have anyways (I go big or go home when it comes to the kids). Grocery-wise I get most meat from Zaycon, produce is whatever Aldi’s weekly sales are, and then fill in with the farmers markets. I try to do at least one big trip to the farmers market each month.
Carolina says
It made me smile to see your chalkboard ads from Calefs!!! You probably noticed when you were here, that there are NO big box stores in Barrington, NH, but they are close by in larger towns, for anybody who wants them. I shop at the least expensive grocery store around these parts, which is Market Basket. But there are so many great local eateries, that I don’t go to chain restaurants.
Mavis Butterfield says
I pretty much LOVE everything about southern New Hampshire. I love that you can be 20-30 minutes {or more} outside of a big town yet close enough to amenities if you need them. It’s the perfect mix.
E in Upstate NY says
Don’t forget the other part of buying local, the local pharmacy as compared to buying through the mail.
I support where ever I can the local or regional businesses. This includes buying my yarn [sell my knitting] locally, even though I could buy on the ‘net. Nothing beats touching the yarn. And since I do stranded knitting, only way can see how the colors blend is to twist them together. Kinda hard to do that on my computer screen!
Also, who supports the local non-profits but the local businesses. Ever try to get say Little League team support or advertising in an event’s program book from a big box store? At least 6 months before event and a letter etc that gets mailed states away.
Eileen says
I use a small pharmacy, try to avoid chain restaurants and I use local businesses for all of my business shopping. I do hit Costco once a month, but most of my shopping is at a small family owned grocery chain, which an occasional stop at Trader Joes. Even when I shop at a chain (Staples because we no longer have a small office supply store, I try to pick up in person so that the jobs will be kept in my town.
Our local businesses provide good jobs and a sense of community. I did fundraising for many good causes and these were the supporters of charities and community activities and they get hit up a lot….
We buy from local farms with farm cash (you give the farmers cash in the winter and you use it up all summer) and always use local tradesman who are insured.
My town in Connecticut is still pretty much run by local businesses and I would like to keep it going…
Lisa Millar says
I’ve been a small business owner and its hard. Really hard. Seems like everyone else is making the money and you do all the work!
Back in the days of film and Kodak, we developed and printed photos (and framed prints and had retail items). We paid a lot to be part of the Kodak system, yet the big chain shops with the buying power could retail their film for cheaper than we could buy it wholesale off Kodak!! It was an uphill battle at times – smart to diversify if possible.
I try to buy very local where I can and happy to pay a little more (with limits) to keep the money in the community.
There are limits. We needed a bore pump a year ago. We could buy it from the local irrigation shop for $3000 or online for $250. That, is a no-brainer. (and so far my ‘cheap’ bore pump has worked brilliantly)
We also have shops locally dedicated to people who sell their hand made goods. Its one shop and you rent out a shelf – so you can walk in and see literally 100 different peoples craft/art items in one place. Prices are good and they are very well frequented shops!
Brooke says
I live in Seattle. Can I count Amazon as local? :-P. In all seriousness though, I never really understood this debate – and my husband is a small buisness owner. Most small businesses are stocked with products not made locally. If I buy a Fisher Price toy at my local small toy store, I’m ultimately still supporting a large corperation. Our local boutique has their clothes manufactured overseas. My nearby Target employs folks who live in my neighborhood and allows them to put foid on the table. Neither big or small buisness is inherently better than the other – they are just different.
Jennifer B says
We get to count Coscto and Starbucks as local too 🙂 But seriously, when I shop I think about the kind of town I want to live in, and I make a point of shopping in the stores I want to still be there in the future. So for me that includes a local bookstore, a local grocery store, a local chain drugstore, a local coffee shop and local non-chain restaurants. I still hit the larger stores on occasion, but on a day to day basis my money goes into the businesses in my town that I still want to be here 5 years from now first, the local chain stores second, and from the internet 3rd. I’m lucky to have the finances to make that choice – there are plenty who can’t.
When I travel we do the same. While we may stay at a chain hotel, we eat at local restaurants, visit local attractions and shop at local stores for the most part. When we travel overseas we tend to stay in local restauants or inns too. My husband taught me this, and it’s served us well as we moved into the realm of dealing with needed food restrictions. The local restaurants can usually handle it a lot better than the chain restaurants can.
kim says
This is a tough one. Since I live in a small town we really have very little shopping. We do have a Wal-mart and a Kmart. We have a very small Mall with a Penneys and a Macy’s they are low end stores. We also have a home depot a Ross (which is almost empty it is so picked over) a TJ MAXX and a Pier One (who shops there?) We also have a Costco. I do very little shopping at Costco as I find it too expensive and I don’t need the quantity. Price and saving money is important to me. Rarely can I afford to buy at any small retail place if we had one. I do shop at these places when I travel for a special find.
L. Bryant says
I have tried to incorporate small business with our personal and self employed life. With business we have a local computer “geek” who does all of our technical work. Our construction company uses a number of independent suppliers although we do have to use big box for certain supplies. In addition we have developed a network of (RELIABLE) local licensed tradesmen through contacts with these smaller suppliers. Office supplies are big box or online. The PLUS SIDE OF THIS IS THAT WE DO NOT ADVERTISE AND WE GET MANY REFERRALS FROM THESE TRADESMEN AND SUPPLIERS. THEY ARE AWARE OF OUR WORK, THEY KNOW OUR CLIENTS AND THEIR SATISFACTION AND THEY FEEL COMFORTABLE RECOMMENDING US.
Personally we raise a lot of our own food. I have used our local Extension agent to source meat, dairy, animal feed, seeds, and equipment. We are fortunate to have a number of pick your own farms close by and frequent them. I also use our local non profit for adults with disabilities for their greenhouse plants. They offer household plants (gifts), seasonal flowers and vegetables, and perennials and they are much less expensive than big box stores. I shop for groceries at a salvage store that is independent and then use the chain stores for the items they cannot supply.
For the kids they have played sports through a local church academy and it prepared them for high school varsity athletics and then into college athletics. We bought tuxedos and prom dresses from local consignment stores. We have enjoyed meal, and performances from our local independent restaurants, college and theatres without the travel and cost associated with well known venues. Over the years just having a quick and friendly chat with the cashiers and customers also shopping these local merchants has given me many additional resources.
Margaret @ Live Like No One Else says
My hubby, who rarely ever left the town he grew up in. Traveled to a couple of different states with me for work about 10 years ago. And the first thing he said was that it didn’t even feel like we left our city as they all look the same. He was disappointed. If we didn’t have the big box stores to compare prices, I think we would easily shop the mom and pop shops and consider that the cost of purchasing goods and probably just be more intentional and careful with our purchases. And take better care of what we already have.
Erin says
Our community has already gone over the edge unfortunately. There are no local groceries or hardware stores anymore. There are still a few local eateries. One of my favorite local shops sold all kinds of unique wooden toys from Germany and kitchen supplies from European manufacturers. We know them well as our daughter and their son go to school together. Unfortunately, the owners of their space downtown raised the rent beyond what they could afford and they closed up. The only other local businesses sell things like knickknacks and high end decor that we cannot afford and don’t want anyway.
Tisha says
I am on the fence on this issue. I have to evaluate value for my money. If I am getting a better product for my money or better service (when I need it), then supporting local businesses is worth it. However, not all small businesses are run well. One local feed store had the best gopher bait. It was never in stock. When I called about straw, again not in stock. Locally produced chicken scratch? Again, not in stock when I wanted it. There are only so many times I will try before I go to Tractor Supply who generally has what I want when I need it.